Canadian HS student looking at top US schools?

Student Lounge International Students
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Hi, I’m a grade 10 student at a Nova Scotian high school looking at universities in the states. I am a duel citizen of Canada and the USA so I don’t have to worry about study visas(maybe an advantage for me?) I go to a very rural public school with not a great repuation (but not insanely bad either).

Gpa: 97% average (I think that’s a 4.0? not sure weighted cuz schools in cnd don’t do gpa) predicted to have this average throught the rest of my HS career

Courses: i have no AP courses or IB courses as my school doesn’t offer them and I am unable to get them anywhere else.

I took Advanced English(the only person at my school to take it as it’s not offered physically I have to do online), taking precal 11 and will be taking 12 next year(both of which are concidered advanced courses by NS standards)

will be taking calculus virtually next year. (Also taking the hard courses at my school like physics and bio Chem etc.)

I took 2 correspondance courses in the summer (English and math) to get the advanced courses on my grade 11 transcripts (shows commitment maybe??)

Haven’t taken SAT yet but I think will score atleast 1500 first time then 1560 second time (from my practice scores) SAT subject tests will be Math 2(or one can’t remember what the hardest one is but that’s the one I’m doing) French, literature, and either physics or history. (Taking French to see how I do if I flunk will not submit) I’m a good test taker so I’m confident I can get fairly good scores.

Extra curricular:
Volleyball (varsity team at school and club team) 4+ years

Basketball (school varsity team) 3+ years

Soccer (school varsity team) 2+ years

Softball team(varsity) 2+ years

Duke of Edinburgh award (bronze, silver and most likely gold)

Not sure if this counts but attended Encounter with Canada and soon The Canadian Youth Forum (both geared toward public relations/government)

Student ambassador to international students (NSISP Ambassador)

Looking into probably international relations or polisci as undergrad. Dream schools are Georgetown, GWU, harvard(yea like that’s possible lol), yale(again lol), Columbia, Boston Uni.

I know it’s litterally impossible for international students to get in these schools but might as well try right?

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I have seen students with similar stats get into top US universities. There are however at least three things that you should be aware of.

First of all, admission at the top US schools is very hard to predict. Looking at your stats, and assuming good test scores, your chances at any top Canadian university seem to be very strong. There is no university in the US which is both higher ranked than McGill or Toronto or any of the other “top 6 or 7” schools in Canada, and also has predictable admissions.

University in the US is expensive. You can spend roughly four times as much to attend university in the US as you would spend at a comparable school in Canada. Financial aid is scarce for international students.

Also, Canadian employers prefer to hire graduates from Canadian universities. US employers prefer to hire people who have the right to work in the US (ie, not you). This can be very awkward for Canadians who graduate from US schools.

An alternative that I think that you should seriously consider is to attend a Canadian university, but plan to take a year abroad in the US (or the UK or somewhere else).

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@DadTwoGirls, OP is a dual US-CDN citizen, so has the right to work in the US.

4

The Ivies and other top 10 schools are one thing but what does GWU and BU offer that is not offered at Dalhousie, McGill, Toronto etc. for a fraction of the cost? Your parents would be paying a lot of money just so that you can say you are going to college in the US.

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As a parent who had daughters attend schools in both the U.S. and Canada, including an Ivy and another top-ranked U.S. college, I would say that the education their sisters received at U of T was every bit as good and FAR less expensive.

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“OP is a dual US-CDN citizen, so has the right to work in the US.”

OOps. My apologies. You are correct.

Someone I know with slightly lower stats did get into BU, but at full pay. I guess that there is a tradeoff between the prices of US schools, versus it being easier to find internships in the proximity of whichever school you are attending.

OP, your stats are very good. I got into top US schools from a Canadian high school with stats that were no better. I always suspected that I might have benefited from geographic diversity. You might have a similar advantage since most very strong students from Atlantic Canada will stay in Canada for university if only due to the cost. I think that you should also apply to safeties in Canada (which with your stats seems to be any university in Canada), and pay attention to the budget.

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Why would you want to go to a school like Georgetown for 65 USD/yr when you can go to a an equally good school for about 8-15K CAN ? Your Canadian citizenship gives a chance to get an excellent education at a relatively reasonable price- use it!